Submit to God
James 4:1 – 10
Last week James opened our lesson with a loaded question; “who is wise and understanding among you?” As we discussed relying on Worldly Wisdom, seeded with envy and bitterness, self-centered actions we will reap strife and conflict. Today James doubles down on last week’s lesson by asking the readers “Do you know where those conflicts and deputes among you come from?” Fortunately, James gives the answer to his rhetorical question immediately “they come from your cravings, your desires that are at war within you”.
James is describing something we all know too well, the predictable outcomes of a life dominated by sinful desires and governed by the world’s morality: pride and arrogance leading to conflict, frustration, quarrels, fights, and destructiveness.
James explains that quarrels result from evil desires battling within us because we want more; more possessions, more money, higher status, more recognition. More, we want more of what makes us happy! When we want badly enough to fulfill these desires, we will fight in order to do so.
James pictures these pleasures residing within his readers as the overriding desires of their lives. Nothing will be allowed to stand in the way of their realization. James says to them that “You want something but you don’t get it, so you commit sinful acts to try and get it, you covet something but you can’t get it”.
James tells them that you do not have what you want, you ask but you don’t receive because you are asking for the wrong things, you are going after it in the wrong way. They did “not ask God” for it, in fact most of us would be embarrassed and ashamed to tell God of the things that we desire.
Even when James’s readers did ask God for things, they did “not receive” what they requested. Why, because they asked, “with wrong motives”. Their purpose was to “spend” what they received on “pleasures” for themselves rather on doing Godly things for others.
It was the desire of James’s readers for pleasures that were battling within them for satisfaction and even leading them to try to use prayer as a means of gratification. They wanted to gratify themselves rather than help others and please God.
Does that sound familiar in your own life, do we have the same problems with prayer? Are we not asking for the wrong things, asking for the wrong reasons? Do you talk to God? When you do, what do you talk about? Do you ask only to satisfy your desires? Do you seek God’s approval for what you already plan to do? Your prayers will become powerful when you allow God to change your desires so that they perfectly correspond to his will for you
There is nothing wrong with wanting a pleasurable life. God gives us good gifts that he wants us to enjoy. But suggesting that using the ways of the world, Worldly Wisdom, to get what we want and desire is a dangerous pathway to take. We cannot have a friendship with the world that involves seeking pleasure at others’ expense or at the expense of disobeying God, because pleasure that keeps us from pleasing God is sinful; pleasure from God’s rich, grace-filled bounty is good!
For believers there are two possible objects for affection: the world or God, and these two stand in opposition to each other. James uses “world” to refer to the realm of evil controlled by Satan. It includes all that is wicked and opposed to God on this earth.
James is thinking especially of pleasures that lure people’s hearts from God. By its very nature, “friendship with the world is neglect of God.” So, James tells his readers “Don’t you know that a friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?”
Brothers and sisters, there is no middle ground when it comes to God. Luke 11:23 says “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters”. You can’t just sit on the fence; you’re either with Him or against Him.
Jesus says in Revelations 3, “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Are you cold today, are you hot today or are you lukewarm today? Jesus would rather have you hot or cold, with him or against him. If you are lukewarm, trying to be friends with the world and a friend of God Jesus says that he will spit you out. Friends that does not sound good!
James has accused his readers of spiritual unfaithfulness but because of that, James says that God will give all the more grace to his children. God has set a high standard for wholehearted love and devotion on the part of his people as they resist the appeal of the world, but he gives grace that is greater than the rigorous demand he has made.
God needs to humble us from time to time, so we are willing to turn away from our natural sinful nature. That often includes the pain of self-reflection and a heartfelt repentance but there will be some deep humbling for us as God lovingly strips back layer after layer of selfishness and trains us to be his holy ones, his disciples.
James is telling us that we need to be Submit ourselves to God if we are going move beyond our desirous self that leads us into conflict with the world as well as conflict with God. What does being humble before God look like, fortunately James tells us, Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Submission is not the same as obedience. Instead, it is the surrender of one’s will, which in turn leads us to voluntary and complete obedience. Yield to his authority and will, commit your life to him and his control, and be willing to follow him. Since you have been proud you need to voluntarily bend your will to God’s will.
We must clearly take a stand against evil and let go of the desire that gives him power over us. Resisting the evil is accompanied by Submitting to God. Resisting the devil means to stop flirting with his temptations, to say “no” to him and “yes” to God. Resist Satan and he will flee from you. While his power on earth is great we can rest assured that the power that we have in God to resist him is greater.
James tells us Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. The call to “wash your hands” is a command to make one’s life and actions pure. The worldly quest for pleasure has resulted in sins of heart and hand.
Our problem too often is that we are double-minded, clinging both to our selfish desires and a desire to please God. To be cleansed from sin we must replace our desire to sin with our desire to experience God’s purity.
We must stop doing wrong (wash our hands), and then turn our wills decisively to God’s will (purify our hearts). The doublemindedness must go. We must decide which way to go and turn to it wholeheartedly. No longer is our will divided, but now our will is “integrated” with our faith and love for God, and we gain “integrity” again.
James tells us we must lament and mourn and weep. True sorrow for sin is not being sorry that you were caught, but rather sorry that your heart was so hard that you could commit this affront to God. So long as sin is just in the moral category of “bad deeds,” it can be looked at as an unfortunate phase of our lives.
But when sin is looked at as a proud and independent spirit that stands up to God and deliberately goes the opposite way to His, then we see its personal and ugly side. It is not only morally wrong, but it is personal rebellion against the One who loves us. The appropriate response is grief. It is more than acknowledging our sin; it is owning up to our guilt and lamenting and abhorring our disobedience.
Finally, come near to God, and He will come near to you. If we will draw near to God, that is, turn our wills to doing his will, then he will draw near to us, empowering us to follow him, and giving us a sense of his presence.
We don’t always experience the joy of His presence even though through the Holy Spirit he is always nearby and is always present. Sometimes we don’t experience his presence because we are so involved and consumed by our own desires that we fail to acknowledge the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Drawing near to God involves coming close. Seeking expresses a purposeful action and drawing near expresses the heart attitude. Dear ones, always be mindful of the Spirit’s presence in and around you! Draw close to it!
Hear the Good News my Friends…….
Isaiah proclaimed, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7 NIV).
Our Father loves us beyond description, and He wants our relationship to be restored. God has always wanted His children to draw near to Him with all their hearts. He created us to walk with Him in fellowship and experience the joy and fullness of life
God graciously provided a plan of forgiveness and restoration through the promised Messiah, making it possible for sinful men to draw near again to God. Jesus Christ came near to the world through the incarnation in order to die for the sin of humanity and to rescue them from death with an offer of eternal life. Because Jesus became flesh and dwelled among us because Christ went to the cross and then rose gloriously from the dead—we can draw near to God!
James is telling us that God always has His arms open to restore those who wish to return to Him. Drawing near is the decision to come back into the life of God. It is a restoration of what we were designed to enjoy forever.
Even now, despite the darkness of human sin all around us, God is never far away. He is present right here and now, ready to revive us again we only need to draw near to Him in humility, prayer, and repentance. What hope this brings! Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Submit to God and he will lift you up to be with him forever! Amen.